Yin Chai, hearing the words Mu Anxiao gritted out from between her teeth, was startled and quickly followed her gaze to the palms of Mu Anxiao's hands.
"..."
Mu Anxiao: "See anything?" The pain made even blinking difficult for her.
"What?" Yin Chai was confused by Mu Anxiao's question.
"I said," Mu Anxiao said, "look to see if there's any difference between the two wounds."
"There's no difference, one is a fresh wound," Yin Chai said, looking up at Mu Anxiao. "The other is an old one."
"Continue," Mu Anxiao tilted her chin.
Yin Chai: "What more is there to continue? This doesn't prove your innocence at all."
"No," Mu Anxiao sneered. "Do you dislike me?"
"No."
"No? Then why are you always so fixated on me? It was like that above, and it's like this here. What do you really want?" Mu Anxiao frowned and put down her hands. "Do you really want to kill me that badly?"
"I just don't want to see those beggars die with their eyes open."
"..." Mu Anxiao panted, her strength for speaking gone.
The Mortal Realm, the street.
Fake Lin Yan stopped beside the beggars' bodies, then glanced at the people guarding them and asked, "Why not bury them directly?"
Beside him, the old man said, "Tomorrow."
"You're going to leave them out all night?" Fake Lin Yan looked at the old man.
The old man nodded. "Yes, it's the rule."
"The rule?" Fake Lin Yan repeated, sighing. "Alright, if it's the rule." He then lowered his head, his gaze unintentionally falling on one of the beggars, and frowned. "His eyes look a little strange."
The old man sighed and said, "When we found several of these people, their eyes were open. We didn't want them to be like that, so we helped them close them."
"Why not let them stay open?"
"..." The old man stared at Fake Lin Yan for a few seconds and said, "It's not good to die with unfinished business."
"..." Stared at by the old man, Fake Lin Yan awkwardly turned his face away.
The old man said, "You're still too young."
Fake Lin Yan nodded slightly.
Then, the old man walked away.
After the old man left, Fake Lin Yan focused his gaze on the beggar's face again, thinking, Is it you?
With that thought, he rolled up his sleeve and looked at the bite marks on his arm.
Below.
Mu Anxiao remained silent.
Yin Chai, looking at the silent Mu Anxiao, said, "Plead guilty. It's really pointless to keep this up."
Hearing this, Mu Anxiao came back to her senses, letting her blood drip onto the carpet, and said, "I didn't do anything. Why should I plead guilty?"
"You..."
"Stop," Mu Anxiao didn't want to listen to Yin Chai's gossip anymore, so she raised the hand with the old wound again towards his face. "Look carefully. If my wounds were fake, they wouldn't be this deep. Look."
Yin Chai: "You..."
"I told you to look," Mu Anxiao said sternly.
Hearing this, Yin Chai was startled, then casually glanced at Mu Anxiao's palm and said, "That was a dagger with demonic energy, naturally..."
"Wait," Xu Lan interrupted.
At the same time, Yin Chai turned his head to look at Xu Lan, who was walking around the table towards them, and shut his mouth.
The next moment, Xu Lan reached Yin Chai's side, lowered his head, and stared at Mu Anxiao's palm. "Raise that hand too."
Mu Anxiao said nothing, enduring the pain of her fresh wound, and slowly raised her arm, holding her hand out to Xu Lan. "..."
Then, Xu Lan compared the two different wounds and said, "Mu Anxiao, that dagger struggled in your hand."
Mu Anxiao: "Yes, she wanted to escape. I held onto her, and her blade pressed into my flesh, so naturally, the wound here would be very deep." As she spoke, she didn't forget to glare fiercely at Yin Chai.
Yin Chai: "Struggling, it must be that your dagger no longer wished to be used by you, and wanted to break free from your confinement."
"If you spout any more nonsense, I'll rip your mouth apart," Mu Anxiao said coldly.
Yin Chai took two steps back. "It must be like that."
Mu Anxiao: "You've gone too far."
After speaking, she stepped forward and was about to lose her temper when Xu Lan moved to block her. "Alright, don't get angry."
Mu Anxiao looked up. "He's framing me."
"I know what's going on. Don't move, or I'll really convict you."
"You..." Mu Anxiao was speechless.
Then, Xu Lan turned back to the table and looked at Yin Chai sternly again. "In that case, call the beggars up."
Upon hearing Xu Lan's words, Yin Chai laughed. "Mu Anxiao, you're finished."
Because of Xu Lan's words, Mu Anxiao decided not to act rashly and completely ignored Yin Chai.
Minutes later.
Ten beggars arrived.
However, they did not seem afraid of Mu Anxiao. Instead, they waited one by one for Xu Lan to question them.
Seeing this, Yin Chai looked confused. "You're not afraid of her?"
They remained silent.
Yin Chai frowned. "..."
Mu Anxiao turned to look at them, feeling a knot of unease in her heart.
Xu Lan: "Which of you died with unfinished business?"
Hearing this, one beggar dressed in red stepped forward and said, "I did."
Xu Lan: "Did you see that person's face?"
"I did."
"Was it her?" Xu Lan pointed at Mu Anxiao.
Mu Anxiao quietly watched the beggar in red, saying nothing.
The beggar in red stepped forward, looked down at Mu Anxiao's face, then straightened up and said, "It was a man." He then shifted his gaze towards Xu Lan.
Hearing this, Yin Chai became excited. "She's wearing men's clothes!"
"I said a man, not men's clothes," the beggar in red emphasized, looking at Yin Chai.
Yin Chai: "..." He was embarrassed.
Xu Lan: "You mean, it wasn't her?" He pointed at Mu Anxiao.
Mu Anxiao's heart tightened. "..."
"No," the beggar in red shook his head.
Mu Anxiao breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this.
Yin Chai: "Impossible."
Then, Xu Lan asked, "Why impossible?"
Yin Chai glared at Mu Anxiao's retreating figure and said, "My judgment cannot be wrong. It must be her."
Hearing Yin Chai's self-righteous voice, Mu Anxiao's face turned cold, and she turned to him, saying, "You've said enough."
However, Yin Chai had no intention of listening to Mu Anxiao and eagerly turned to the beggar in red. "Did you struggle?"
"Yes."
"And did you leave any... marks on that person?"
"Marks..." The beggar in red repeated, then shifted his gaze back to Mu Anxiao and said, "Yes, I bit the person's arm, it bled, there's definitely a scar."
Yin Chai: "Mu Anxiao, lift your sleeve." He pointed at Mu Anxiao.
Mu Anxiao rolled her eyes, enduring the pain, and immediately rolled up her sleeve. "Look, look." As she spoke, she glanced at her fair arm.
"I will look," Yin Chai said, walking arrogantly to Mu Anxiao's side, then looking down at her arm, his face turning dark.
---
The second update, done!
Good morning!